DENTAL & MEDICAL

Udell_Bridging Dental Cost With Objet Eden 260V

Thứ tư - 13/01/2016 14:05

Scott Udell, president of Udell Dental Laboratory, said that the Objet Eden260V Dental Advantage™ 3D Printer offers major advantages over the 3D printer that we used in the past.” The bio-compatible material used by the Dental Advantage averages $2.84 per RPD, which is less than 25 percent of the cost per frame from the company’s previous 3D printer.

Several years ago, Udell began using digital technology to make RPDs. This approach begins with taking a 3D laser scan of the stone model. The technician works with special software to define the geometry of the frame. The software provides automated tools to ensure an accurate fit, such as automatically calculating the path of insertion for the RPDs and highlighting any interference. This approach reduces the time required for this step from 20 minutes with the traditional approach to one minute. The technician uses a 3D printer to create an RPD pattern for investment casting. The pattern is sprued, invested, cast and finished the same as the traditional method.

This digital method takes only 65 minutes to produce a complete RPD. The new method saves the dentist additional time in fitting the RPD because its accuracy is much higher. If a remake is required, modifications can be quickly made to the digital file and reprinted instead of having to hand wax again from scratch.

The 3D printer that Udell first used required material that cost averaged $12 for each RPD pattern and took 12 hours to print the pattern. Turnaround time was 3 days. Looking to improve these numbers, Udell decided to compare the Stratasys line of 3D printers against its current system.